Cruise & Ferry Review - Autumn/Winter 2021

8 0 T o say that ferry traffic between Ibiza and Formentera in Spain is an especially competitive market might be something of an understatement, with no less than five different ferry companies currently competing on the route and offering more than 140 crossings per day in the high season. Market leader on the route is family-owned Trasmapi. Ibiza-based Trasmapi forms part of the Insotel Group, a business founded in the 1960s that today has diverse interests in the tourism sector. The group is divided into two main areas, the Insotel Hotel Group owns and operates 2,500 hotel rooms in the Balerica Islands, with hotels on all four Islands – Ibiza, Formentera, Mallorca and Menorca. In addition, it also has a project to build 900 hotel rooms in Mexico. The other area is the Insotel Marine Group which has interests in marinas – including Marina Ibiza – and shipping. Within the latter, Trasmapi is the main business while there is also share-holding involvement in ferry company Mediterranea Pitiusa and Formentera Cargo. The family began the ferry business back in 1974 to transport passengers from Ibiza to Formentera explains president and CEO Marcos Marí Washbourne. “We had built two new Formentera hotels, and with no airport, we needed to improve access for the guests. In the early days, the vessels were wooden ferries operating at 10-12 knots and taking an hour to cover the 11-nautical-mile route between the island ports. Our first ship was Burlón, a fishing vessel converted into a 300-passenger ferry.” Currently Trasmapi operates a fleet of six passenger-only fast ferries plus one high speed ro-pax catamaran between the two islands. The passenger-only craft are purpose-built for the trade which “ Although challenges still remain ahead, we also believe there are opportunities, so we are cautiously optimistic about 2022” Leading the Balearics market Marcos Marí Washbourne tells Justin Merrigan how Trasmapi is improving the customer experience in the massively competitive market that is the Balearic Islands INTERV IEW